like pretty lights
by extraordinaire
Summary: Gift!Fic for Ari. AU ShikaIno. But as she sat there, looking up at him with a crooked smile, showing her two missing teeth, and her hair in two messy pigtails, her eyes shining more than the sky he loves, he knew it was worth it.


**title**: like pretty lights  
**pairing**: Shikamaru and Ino  
**prompt**: "Mary's Song (Oh My My My)" by Taylor Swift

**summary**: AU ShikaIno. But as she sat there, looking up at him with a crooked smile, showing her two missing teeth, and her hair in two messy pigtails, her eyes shining more than the sky he loves, he knew it was worth it.

**note**: this is the first ShikaIno I ever wrote, and I feel so wrong. Seriously. ShikaTema equals love, and I don't care what you all say!

But a request is a request, and I happen to love Ari, so there was just no denying it. You're truly amazing, love, and this story BETTER suit your ShikaIno needs. I crossed such terrible, horrible boundaries that'll never be crossed again. Seriously.

Oh, and I love Taylor Swift, and this song!

**for**: Ari, the amazing review/devoted reader, who deserves this despicable pairing because she's just soooooo original.  
**disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto, or this delicious Taylor Swift song, or the plot that commences with it. And you can take your ShikaIno.

* * *

And she stared up at the sky, wondering why it was so large and why it was so white and why her best friend just loved to stare at it all day long.

Truly, _truly_, it couldn't be _that_ amazing.

But he was older, so maybe it was just his way, and it was understandable. Because even Ino knew that older kids were the boss of everything—you, the playground, and lets not forget the _unknown_ things in the world.

Like why his eyes were so brown, but still pretty sparkly.

And how her aqua ones beat his out any day, but she didn't dare tell him that. He was bigger, and better, and just _not_ to be messed with.

So she sat down next to him—more like _plopped_, but the blonde would never be considered klutzy like her best friend—and looked up, but never sparing him a glance, for she knew what this meant to him.

Those shapeless clouds of nothing special.

Because it would always be the clouds and never _her_.

* * *

Daddy always said that Ino and Shikamaru was a match made in heaven, joking around with the lazy-butt's daddy. And the moms would laugh along; never believing it would be true.

But what's a 'match made in heaven' anyways?

Ino was just seven, not understanding the dynamics of love and life.

It was understandable, of course.

But Shikamaru would sit across the table, and sigh, muttering is favorite phrase. And Ino would raise an eyebrow, but would never question.

She knew better than to question someone who was _older_.

* * *

The rain was pouring down harder and harder, but that was what was expected at such at time of the year. April showers bring May flowers, and if there was something Ino Yamanka knew, it was flowers.

But when the rain splashed down on the wilting petals and the broken seeds, she felt sadness.

Not for long, of course, for her knight in corduroys pulled her arm, dragging her into the green house in the back of his yard. She whined and complained, like she always did, and Shikamaru regretted saving her. She really wasn't worth it.

But as she sat there, looking up at him with a crooked smile, showing her two missing teeth, and her hair in two messy pigtails, her eyes shining more than the sky he loves, he knew it was worth it.

"Let's play truth or dare!" Shikamaru groaned, but nonetheless agreed to the blonde's demands. "I dare you to kiss me!"

Because Ino was smart and knew that she needed to use the sneaky ways of Truth or Dare in order to get what she wants—she _always_ gets what she wants.

And Shikamaru knew that there was no denying her—especially with that pout on her face.

But when Shikamaru leaned in to plant his red lips onto her even rosier ones, she dashed out of the glass house quicker than anyone had ever seen. He sat there, his head out, his lips puckered, before he opened them to notice his empty surroundings.

He sighed.

She was _definitely_ going to get a cold.

* * *

After moving away for a few years, and coming back as a sixteen-year-old, saying that Ino Yamanka changed would be a trivial understatement.

And when she arrived, her platinum heels clanking against the sidewalk as her sparkly headband shined from the sun that illuminated the sky her best friend loved. She ran into the arms that weren't awaiting her, but that's another thing that changed—she became more confident.

He grunted in annoyance, but hugged back nonetheless. She squealed with excitement and started running towards the house.

And as her skirt rose from the unexpected friction, and the cement stoop that was in front of his house, Shikamaru glanced, and then blushed.

She wasn't the little girl she used to be.

* * *

The music was turned up higher than his truck should have been, blasting The Jonas Brothers at two in the morning along the empty roads along the country side. Her hand was clamped on his, and while Shikamaru claimed it to be an annoyance, he found it more as a reassurance.

"_When you look me in the eyes…!_" She sang, humming when the lyrics stopped. She was glancing out the window, watching the moon as it moved along with her in the vehicle. The brunette's eyes should have been on the road, but they always traveled back to his girlfriend.

She was too beautiful, unique, amazing, wonderful, perfect for words, and Shikamaru felt unworthy.

But when she turned to him, smiling that never-ending grin of joy and happiness, he realized that even if she owned every Coach purse, and that her hair was brighter than the sun, and her clothes belonged more to a model than to a teenager, that she was his and he was hers, and that's all they ever needed to be.

* * *

The first time (and certainly not the _last_ time) they ever fought was the night after their date, when Shikamaru was apparently eyeing the waitress. Ino, being the blonde and over-reactive girl she was, freaked out, storming out of the restaurant, running back home.

Shikamaru, even if he found it troublesome and it didn't go with his lazy façade, chased after her, even if it was raining. And when he caught up with her, and he made her go in the car just to keep her safe—anger or not—she smiled, but still slammed the door when he dropped her off, not kiss in sight.

He sighed and got out of the car, waiting until she would come out and throwing so many rocks at her window that her father eventually came out.

And even with all the terrifying threats of calling the police and the slaughtering—a man doesn't like when his baby girl is hurt by some _silly little boy_—he stayed out until the sun rose and Ino realized that he wasn't really worth fighting with.

And that she was much, much prettier than that waitress, anyways.

* * *

It was a lovely evening, sitting upon a hill that was all too familiar. She looked over at him, and he was looking at the sky, and Ino still hadn't found what was so interesting about it.

And then she hit Deja Vu, for this was the first place they ever really hung out.

It was where she wondered what was so wondrous about these fluffy little clouds and the light that peaked through, making any day brighter.

"Shikamaru, darling, love of my life, why are we here?" He shrugged, and she could tell he was nervous, but she didn't know what about.

She sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder that was against the tree. She laced their fingers together and watched the sky turn into a twilight scene that was almost as delicious as his manly smell and his irresistible kisses.

"Ino," She looked up at the calling over her name and was pushed over as he stood up, then down again, but in a different position.

He was down on one knee.

* * *

The flushing of white in her dress blended perfectly with her perpetual tan-ness, making a sea of ivory. She was the most beautiful bride—it was easily decided.

And as she walked down the isle, the whole village coming to see such an occasion—they were the most talked about couple, and obviously the most inevitable—and their mothers cried as Ino's father observed—for Shikamaru's was long gone—prided in his discovery and true prediction.

Shikamaru smiled, that crooked little smile that she'd always show. He _never_ smiled—only a smirk, if she was lucky. She blushed cutely, continuing to be walked down the isle by her father that was still smiling.

She reached the front of the church, and her father kissed her cheek, saying the goodbye that was unavoidably coming.

They exchanged their vows and sealed it with a kiss, for this was it. This was their lives together, through good and bad.

This was eternity.

* * *

Ino's parents had moved out of their house, deciding that it was time for a smaller place with a bigger backyard for the growing of plants and whatnot. When the house went on sale, Ino and Shikamaru couldn't think of a better place to grow old and raise their kids.

It was quickly sold for much less of the asking price—but more of the memories.

Ino entered the house, rubbing her extra-large tummy and looking at the porch, the swing sitting in the middle.

She carefully sat down on the old wood, rocking back and forth and imagining what her life could be like. Flashes of brown-haired, blue-eyed kids running around in the front yard, others in her arm as Shikamaru would fetch her some tea and a bottle for the crying baby.

This was the perfect place, she decided.

And as Shikamaru wordlessly sat next to her, he silently agreed.

* * *

The stars shined brighter in his eyes than ever before as they lay on that hill. And no, she wasn't eighty-seven, and there was no way he was eighty-nine, but one day, _one day_, when they're love would reach its height and their youth would be non-existent, there would be love.

There would be infinity.

There would be two old birds, still teasing each other and fighting over the most nonsense things anyone could think of. Ino would still have platinum blonde hair and Shikamaru would still mutter a _troublesome_ every other sentence.

And neither would have it any other way.

* * *

_Oh my my my…_

* * *

Alright, I'm off to go and kill myself, and then indulge in the wondrous couple of ShikaTema.

Oh, and did you enjoy it, darling?


End file.
